New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday asked Prime Mi nister Narendra Modi to tell his MPs to do better homework before raising issues in Parliament.
His reaction came after BJP MP K Laxman accused the Congress and other opposition parties of appeasement and doing votebank politics by giving OBC reservation to Muslims.
"Today in the Rajya Sabha, the Indian National Congress was accused of appeasement because of its stance on reservations for Muslims on the basis of backwardness," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"Here is what the Prime Minister had himself said on this subject on Feb 9, 2022. The PM should tell his MPs to do better homework," the Congress leader said, while sharing an undated video of the Prime Minister.
In the video, PM Modi is saying that in Gujarat too, there are 70 such castes in Muslim community which were OBC.
"In my Gujarat, when I was there, they received the benefits under OBC category, but I did not see that in the media," the prime minister said in the video.
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Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has expressed concerns over certain provisions in the proposed FCRA Bill and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to withdraw them.
In a letter to Modi, Vijayan said the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, has sparked concern among various sections of society, particularly minority communities.
A copy of the letter, sent on Sunday, was shared on his Facebook page on Monday.
In the letter, Vijayan noted that a perusal of the bill’s clauses indicates that powers have been granted to authorities to take over assets even for technical omissions.
“The apprehension is that granting such sweeping powers to authorities could lead to arbitrary exercise, and such concerns cannot be dismissed as baseless,” he said.
The chief minister pointed out that the existing law already provides sufficient powers to deal with misuse by entities permitted to receive foreign contributions.
He further said the amendment proposes enabling the takeover of assets, including places of worship and charitable organisations, even in cases involving technical issues such as violations of time limits.
Vijayan warned that the provisions could adversely affect institutions engaged in selfless service in areas such as education, healthcare, and the welfare of the poor and marginalised, even in the absence of significant lapses.
Stating that the issue has triggered concerns among religious groups and minority communities, the CM urged the prime minister to intervene in the matter at the earliest.
He also urged the PM to take steps to withdraw the provisions related to the takeover of assets in the amendment bill, noting that the existing Act has adequate safeguards to address violations.
The chief minister wrote to Modi at a time when reports about the proposed provisions in the FCRA Bill had triggered widespread reactions among political parties and various church denominations in poll-bound Kerala.
